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Public Service Commission under cloud
Campaign ends in J&K
Byelection cakewalk for Azad
PDP suspends membership of
Ghulam Hassan Mir
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Shabir, Geelani under house arrest
Srinagar-Leh road now National Highway
Suicide bomber killed
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Public Service Commission under cloud
Jammu, April 22 This time, the PSC in a spot over the selection process for the Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS), with two of its members, Dr N.A. Jan and Prof B.K. Tikoo, having raised serious objections on the preparation of results of preliminary examination. The trouble started following a large number of wrong and outside-syllabus questions for various subjects in the KAS examination. Disassociating from the examination process, Dr Jan had given in writing that the procedure adopted for correction of the wrong questions was not properly followed. He pointed out that “before finalisation of the result, I had several times pointed out that in view of large-scale changes involved, it would be appropriate to go for fresh examination for all those papers that had anomaly”. “But unfortunately all my suggestions were not only brushed aside but were given a cold shoulder,” he said in the letter. Professor Tikoo, who also disassociated from the examination process of the Combined Services Examination, also sent a letter saying: “I have a genuine strong feeling that the procedure adopted for rectifying the mistakes is not fair at all and that it might have resulted in injustice to a large number of candidates for no fault of theirs.” He pointed out that “the Chairman arbitrarily adopted the criteria for deletion of questions for reasons best known to him and the standard procedure was not adopted”. Fingers are also being raised on the recent selection of around 300 doctors by the PSC. A lot of hue and cry was made on the selection of college principals recently when allegations of regional discrimination were made. The recent session of the Assembly also witnessed noisy scenes by the Opposition members on the issue of recruitment for government jobs. The proceedings were frequently blocked and the House had to be adjourned. The Congress, which along with the PDP, in power for the past 42 months in the state, has so far failed to meet its commitment of removing regional disparity not only in the matter of recruitment but also allocation of funds to the three regions. A lot of hue and cry was made by the Kashmiri lobby two years ago when the number of candidates selected for the KAS was higher from the Jammu region than the valley. The then Chairman was allegedly pressured to redraft the results, but he refused to succumb to the political pressure. Allegations have been raised from time to time that a section of bureaucracy has been indulging in selecting candidates from the valley by creating tailor-made vacancies for the purpose to please their masters. |
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Campaign ends in J&K
Srinagar, April 22 According to officials, out of 264 polling stations in three constituencies of Baramula district in north Kashmir, 103 have been categorised hyper-sensitive and 161 sensitive. There are 91 polling stations in Rafiabad constituency, which include 31 hyper sensitive and 60 sensitive. Of the 82 polling stations in Sangrama constituency, 40 have been categorised hyper-sensitive and 42 sensitive. Similarly, out of 91 polling stations in Pattan constituency, 32 have been categorised hyper-sensitive and 59 sensitive. Fifteen candidates are in the fray, contesting the three constituencies in Baramula district, where a total of 1.97 lakh voters will exercise franchise. The ruling Congress-PDP coalition is contesting all three seats as it has fielded coalition candidates Javed Hussain Beigh in Sangrama, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari in Pattan and Dilawar Mir in Rafiabad. The opposition National Conference has fielded only two candidates, Mohammad Maqbool Mir from Rafiabada and Dr Mustafa Kamaal from Pattan, while it has extended support to the independent, Shoaib Lone from Sangrama, who had been denied mandate by the PDP. Other candidates in the fray include three from the Panthers Party, one each from the BJP and the RLD, and four independents. The counting of votes will take place on Thursday. A total of 166 magistrates have been appointed for the by-elections, while the training regarding electronic voting machines has been provided to 1,550 employees, political parties and people of these constituencies, officials here said.
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Byelection cakewalk for Azad
Jammu, April 22 With the contest being direct with BJP lightweight Kaushal Kotwal, Mr Azad is unlikely to face any big hurdle. His cousin Sahrief Niaz had vacated the seat to enable Mr Azad become a member of the Assembly within six months of taking over as the Chief Minister. Interestingly, several BJP activists were also supporting Mr Azad, as this was for the first time that the state had had a Chief Minister from the Jammu division and that too belonging to a backward district. Today, BJP spokesperson Prof Hari Om alleged that official machinery had come out openly to campaign for Mr Azad in the constituency. Ministers were campaigning for him in their official vehicles, he alleged. He alleged that government employees were pressuring ordinary people to vote for Mr Azad. Interestingly, Mr Azad has addressed only one election rally at Bhaderwah and has not revisited there to campaign for himself. Neither has he campaigned for alliance partner, the PDP, that was contesting the byelection on all three seats in the valley, where it was an acid test for former Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed and his daughter Mehbooba Mufti. There were reports that certain Congress activists in the valley were campaigning for the Opposition National Conference (NC) that did not field its candidate against Mr Azad in
Bhaderwah. The contest is interesting particularly in the Sangrama constituency where the PDP is split on the election issue. Former minister and founder member of the PDP Ghulam Hassan Mir is backing Shoaib Lone, son of
G.N. Lone who was assassinated by terrorists. However, the party has given the ticket to Javed Beig, a close relative of Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Beig. Reports indicate that Mr Lone was enjoying sympathy of the people. Mr Mir was yesterday expelled from the party for supporting campaigning against the official candidate. The contest is equally interesting in Pattan and Rafiabad constituencies where the main contest is between the PDP and the NC. The NC is making all-out efforts for Dr Mustafa Kamal, brother of Dr Farooq Abdullah, in the Pattan constituency, where the PDP has fielded Moulvi Iftikhar Ansari, who deserted the NC sometime ago. |
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PDP suspends membership of
Ghulam Hassan Mir
Srinagar, April 22 “Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Ms Mehbooba Mufti today suspended Ghulam Hassan Mir MLA, Tangmarg from the party’s membership. This follows Mr Mir’s activities, which were aimed at harming the interest of the party on the mandate of which he was elected. Mr Mir has of late been indulging in acts of gross indiscipline”, a statement of the PDP said here this evening. Party president and MP, Ms Mehbooba Mufti has also expelled Mr Ghulam Qadir Pardesi and Zaffar Ahmad, Municipal Councillor, Jammu from basic membership of the PDP in view of their anti-party activities, the statement added. Reacting to the party’s decision, Mr Mir told this correspondent on telephone from a public meeting in Sangrama constituency that “everything will be clear on Friday”, when the counting of votes takes place. The counting of votes for the three constituencies going to the byelections, Sangrama, Pattan and Rafiabad in Baramula district of north Kashmir on April 24 will be held on April 28. Differences between the PDP leadership and Mr Mir had surfaced only after the change of guard here on November 2 last year, when senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as the head of the Cong-PDP coalition government. While Mr Azad restricted the strength of his council of minister to 13 only, Mr Mir aspiring to be the Deputy Chief Minister was denied a berth in the Council of Ministers. |
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Shabir, Geelani under house arrest
Srinagar, April 22 According to police sources, Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party
(DFP) chief Shah was told not to venture out of his Rawalpora residence after being placed under house arrest on Friday. The breakaway Hurriyat Conference chairman Geelani was also informed about the restrictions on his movement. The Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Moulvi Omar Farooq, Geelani's breakaway Hurriyat Conference,
DFP, Kashmir High Court Bar Association and almost all the militant outfits have been running a polls boycott campaign for the last fortnight. —
ANI |
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111 state youths join Army
Srinagar, April 22 Emotional scenes were witnessed when the new recruits were greeted by their relatives after the passing out parade and oath-taking ceremony held at Bana Singh Parade Ground of the JKLI Regimental Centre here. A total of 111 recruits took the oath of allegiance to the nation. Of these recruits, 48 were from the Kashmir valley while the rest from the Jammu division. The regiment has one Param Vir Chakra, one Ashok Chakra, 11 Mahavir Chakras, One Kirti Chakra, two Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, seven Ati Vishishth Seva Medal, 42 Vir Chakras, 15 Shaurya Chakras, two Yudh Seva Medal, 161 Sena Medals, 12 Vishisht Seva Medal and several gallantry awards to its credit. This regiment came into being as the J&K Militia in 1948 when the volunteers in the valley rallied to the clarion call of the Sher-e-Kashmir and other local leaders and successfully stalled the Pakistan's ''evil design'' in 1947-48. Brig Shakti Prashad, Commandant, JKLI centre, reviewed the parade and congratulated the young soldiers for the high standard of the parade. Young soldiers were awarded medals for excelling in physical training, drill and firing by the reviewing officer. The sword of honour for best all- round soldier of the 74th Course was presented to Recruit Arun Sharma while Recruit Bishan Lal commanded the parade.
— UNI |
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Srinagar-Leh road now National Highway
Jammu, April 22 The Prime Minister said a notification upgrading the road to a highway had been issued by the Centre. The road is of strategic importance and was constantly targeted by Pakistan during the Indo-Pak conflict during the Operation Vijay. The demand was
pending before the Centre for a long time and Mr Azad recently took up the matter with the Prime Minister. Mr Azad thanked Dr Manmohan Singh for the gesture and expressed gratitude for showing keen interest in the development of the state. |
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Suicide bomber killed
Srinagar, April 22 The militant tried to ram his explosive-laden Maruti car into the convoy but the vehicle blew up prematurely, killing the militant on the spot. There was no damage to security forces or people travelling in the convoy, the spokesperson added. No militant organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack
so far. — PTI |
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